Ha Dong · Hanoi · private tours for 1–4 guests
Private Tours of Van Phuc Silk Village, Hanoi
Woven here, not printed elsewhere.
Your own licensed local guide who speaks fluent English, a car that carries nobody but your group, and a day tailored to what you want to see. You go inside the houses that still weave, learn to tell real silk from printed polyester, and make a piece of your own to take home — from $41 per person, every fee included.
What is Van Phuc silk village?
Van Phuc sits 10 km southwest of the Old Quarter, on a bend of the Nhue river in Ha Dong, and has been weaving silk for more than a thousand years. Anyone can walk in — there is no gate and no ticket. What is hard to find on your own is the weaving itself: the main street is mostly shops, and the looms are in the yards behind them.
Your guide knows which doors open, and every workshop fee is already paid.
The looms behind the shops
In the yards off the main street, families still warp, weave and dye. You stand next to a running loom while your guide explains what the weaver is doing and why the pattern appears only in the light.
Real silk, and the other kind
Much of what is sold on the main street is printed polyester or imported fabric. You learn the hand test and the burn test before you spend anything, so you buy with your own eyes.
A piece you make yourself
At Vun Art, a co-operative of artisans with disabilities, you cut and lay silk offcuts into a collage of your own and carry it home the same day.
Grab there yourself, or come with us: the honest difference
A car to Van Phuc takes twenty minutes and the village costs nothing to enter. If the lanes, the umbrella street and the shop windows are what you came for, go alone — you will see the same village.
On your own
Right for a lot of people
- Twenty minutes each way and nothing to pay at the entrance
- The main street: shops, cafes and the umbrella lane
- A loom only if a door happens to be open when you pass
- Nobody to ask in English about what the weaver is doing
- Workshops run on booking, so walking in usually means watching
You arrange it · you judge the silk alone
A private day with us
What the extra pays for
- Your own car and a licensed local guide who speaks fluent English, for your group alone
- Into the yards that still weave and dye, with everything translated both ways
- The silk test before you buy, so you are not guessing in a shop
- A workshop place held for you, and the piece you make comes home with you
- The order and pace of the day are yours to change, and there is no shop stop
Your group only · every fee already paid
What you can hold us to
We are new and have no guest reviews yet. Rather than borrow anyone else’s words, here are four things you can judge us on.
One price covers the day
The car, the guide, the loom house, the workshop and every fee at every stop are in the price. From pickup to drop-off nobody asks you for money again.
A licensed guide, only yours
A local who speaks fluent English, translates inside working houses and is free to reorder the day around you.
We never stop at a shop
No shop pays us to bring you and we take nothing on what you buy. We show you how to judge silk and then leave you to it.
Our first review goes up word for word
When the first review arrives we publish it exactly as written, whatever it says.
Two sample itineraries, adjusted to your group
Take either one as written, or use it as a starting point and tell us what to add or leave out. Both are private, and both include a licensed guide, the car, the workshop and every fee along the way.
Van Phuc Silk Village Half-Day Private Tour
4.5 hours · 08:00 or 13:30 · A morning inside the working looms of Van Phuc - dyeing, weaving and your own piece to take home.
from · $41 · / person
Book this tour ›
Choose your group size · price is the group total
Solo traveller$115 BOOK →2 guests$135 BOOK →3 guests$150 BOOK →4 guests$165 BOOK →- Licensed local guide who speaks fluent English, with your group only
- Private air-conditioned car with driver, hotel pickup and drop-off in Hanoi
- Inside a working loom house - weaving, dyeing and warping explained, not a showroom
★ Silk, Soy Sauce and Incense: Full-Day Craft Villages Tour
8.5 hours · 08:00 · Three villages down one river road - silk at Van Phuc, an old village at Cu Da, incense yards at Quang Phu Cau.
from · $78 · / person
Book this tour ›
Choose your group size · price is the group total
Solo traveller$205 BOOK →2 guests$245 BOOK →3 guests$275 BOOK →4 guests$310 BOOK →- Licensed local guide who speaks fluent English, for the whole day
- Private air-conditioned car with driver, hotel pickup and drop-off in Hanoi
- Van Phuc: a working loom house, the silk lesson and the Vun Art workshop
Children under 5 travel free and do not count towards the group size; from 5 a child counts as one guest. Five or more of you, or a route of your own? WhatsApp +84 368 938 081 and we will come back with a plan and one price.
Questions people ask before booking
Is Van Phuc worth a private tour when anyone can walk in?
Honestly, not for everyone. If you want the lanes, the umbrella street and a scarf, take a Grab and keep the money. What you are paying us for is a door into the yards that still weave, someone translating while the weaver works, a workshop place held for you, and knowing what you are buying before you buy it.
How do we know the silk is real?
Your guide shows you two tests in your own hands: how real silk feels and recovers when crushed, and what a single thread does under a flame compared with polyester. Much of what is on the main street is printed or imported fabric, and the difference is easy once someone shows you once.
What is included in the price?
Your own car and driver, a licensed local guide who speaks fluent English, hotel pickup and drop-off in Hanoi, the loom house, the hands-on workshop and the piece you make, every entrance and workshop fee along the way, and bottled water — plus lunch at an artisan home on the full day. Not included: personal shopping in the village, tailoring, drinks beyond the water we bring, and a tip for your guide and driver.
What happens if we cancel?
It is free to cancel up to 3 days (72 hours) before the tour: you get back everything you paid, and a new date costs nothing if there is space. Inside 3 days, including no-shows, 30% of the tour price is kept, because the guide, the car and your workshop place are already held for you.
Can we change the route, or slow it down for children?
Yes. Both tours are sample days: swap a village, stay longer at the looms, or shorten the walking for small children or older parents. The workshop suits about five years old and up. Children under 5 travel free and do not count towards the group size; from 5 a child counts as one guest.
How do we pay for the tour?
Two ways, and you pick at checkout: pay the full price online by card or PayPal, or put down a 30% deposit online and hand the rest to your guide in cash on the day, in US dollars or Vietnamese dong. Choose cash and the deposit invoice reaches you on WhatsApp or by email; the booking is confirmed once it clears.
How far in advance should we book?
Two or three days is usually enough. Give us about a week in October to April and around Vietnamese public holidays, when the village is busiest. The workshop is booked for each group in advance and pauses over Tet — if your date falls then, we swap in a longer session at the loom house and say so before you pay.
Tell us your date and we will shape the day around it
Every tour tailored to your group, a licensed local guide who speaks fluent English, and free to cancel up to 3 days before. We reply on WhatsApp, usually within minutes.